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2024 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP-SHANGHAI
If you’ve been thinking to yourself that it has been a long time since the end of the Olympics and you have missed the international swimming scene, then do I have news for you. Its back.
The first session of the first leg of the 2024 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup is about to start. This year, the series reverts back to short course meters, and while some may be taking a break from the sport after a grueling three-year quad between the Olympics, the first stop is still chock-full of talent.
Domestic stars like Li Bingjie and Ye Shiwen take the water for the women, while the reigning king of last year’s series, Qin Haiyang, will look to repeat the feat of sweeping all the breaststroke events. Qin, however, will not have an easy task to win the series title as Pan Zhanle, the recent newly minted world record holder in the 100 free (LCM) Pan Zhanle will look to rack up the wins, as well Leon Marchand, who left the Paris Games as a four-time Olympic Champion.
Marchand has just one event today, the 100 IM, so we’ll see if the Frenchman can generate some speed. Also in the event, albeit in the women’s version, is Kaylee McKeown, who, like Qin, completed the triple-triple last year, winning all the backstroke events at all three stops.
McKeown, who left Paris with two individual golds and a bronze, quietly just broke the 100 back (SCM) world record at last month’s 2024 Australian Short Course Championships. The swimmer who admitted to not having great underwaters on a podcast with Coleman Hodges will, like Marchand, be competing at all three tour stops this year.
This morning, the Aussie star is entered in two events: the aforementioned 100 IM and the 50 back. In each, she will compete against Sweeden’s Louise Hansson, who, in addition to her 10 short course Worlds Medals, was a three-time NCAA champion.
Hansson, however, is not the only one that McKeown needs to look out for as American stars Kate Douglass and Regan Smith each overlap with McKeown in an event, albeit different ones. Douglass joins McKeown in the 100 IM, as does Beata Nelson, who won the World Cup circuit in 2022.
Regan Smith will once again lock horns with McKeown in the backstrokes, with the shortest (and non-Olympic) 50 back kicking off Smith’s World Cup series program. Smith, like Douglass, will be swimming in all three of the stops, so the battle for the series crown will sure be intense. When adding in Zhang Yufei, who is taking on the 50 free, and Siobhan Haughey, who is not competing in this session, the competition will be must watch viewing start to finish. Speaking of viewing… (no puns today, but I’ll take a bad segue…)
The prelims session will be viewable to most fans on the World Aquatics Recast page (for a fee), which can be accessed below. For more information, read here.
WOMEN’S 400 Free– Prelims
- World Record: 3:51.30 – Li Bingjie, CHN (2022)
- World Cup Record: 3:52.80 – Summer McIntosh, CAN (2022)
- World Junior Record: 3:52.80 – Summer McIntosh, CAN (2022)
Top 8:
- Li Bingjie (CHN) – 4:08.88
- Gao Weizhing/Liu Yaxin (CHN) – 4:09.45
- Kong Yaqi (CHN) – 4:09.76
- Tang Muhan (CHN) – 4:10.38
- He Ya-Hsuan (TPE) – 4:23.20
- Pan Pin-Chen (TPE) – 4:24.61
- Ho Hung-Yi (TPE) – 4:29.59
Not to editorialize too much, but with just ten entrants this morning, not much can be gleaned from this preliminary round. China’s Li Bingjie looked smooth and in control, holding sub-16 25s over the entire race, hitting the 200 mark in 2:02.44, ahead of Liu Yaxin, who was 2:03.38. Liu, was locked in a battle for 2nd with Gao Weizhong, who came home in the only sub-15 split to tie with Liu behind Li. Tang Muhan, who may be better known as a 200 swimmer, finished 5th in the heat.
With the top five clearly separate from places 6-8, expect much faster racing tonight.
MEN’S 400 Free– Prelims
- World Record: 3:32.25 – Yannick Agnel, FRA (2012)
- World Cup Record: 3:32.77 – Paul Biedermann, GER (2009)
- World Junior Record: 3:37.92 – Matthew Sates, RSA (2021)
Top 8:
- James Guy (GBR) – 3:41.82
- Danas Rapsys (LTU) – 3:41.99
- Duncan Scott (GBR) – 3:42.29
- Kieran Smith (USA) – 3:42.85
- Charlie Clark (USA) – 3:43.82
- Kregor Zirk (EST) – 3:43.92
- Breno Correia (BRA) – 3:44.04
- Benjamin Goedemans (AUS) – 3:44.11
The 1st heat saw American record holder Kieran Smith take over the lead at the 150 mark, from Estonia’s Kregor Zirk, who was 54.19 at the 100, to Smith’s 54.26. By the 200 (1:51.26), Smith had opened his lead up to over half a second over fellow American Charlie Clark, who also caught up to Zirk’s early speed. Smith, who failed to make the finals in this event at the Paris Olympics, won the heat in 3:42.85, opening nearly a full second lead over his compatriot.
If heat one went by the books with the middle lanes taking the top three times, then the second heat was an abstract painting. Brits James Guy, and Duncan Scott out of lanes 8 and 0, respectively dueled for the lead with Danas Rapsys, who occupied lane 4. All three were out much faster than Smith and Zirk, with Guy posting a split of 1:48.28 at the halfway point and Rapsys and Scott, joining him sub-1:50 with splits of 1:49.12 and 1:49.77.
Rapsys would close the near-second gap over the last 100 and finished just .17 behind, with Scott taking third in 3:42.29. In the final tonight, with all three grouped together as opposed to separated, it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out. World Junior Record Holder Matthew Sates finished outside of the final, finishing in 3:44.40, which was good for 9th.
WOMEN’S 50 Back– Prelims
- World Record: 25.25 – Maggie MacNeil, CAN (2022)
- World Cup Record: 25.81 – Kira Toussaint, NED (2021)
- World Junior Record: 26.08 – Sara Curtis, ITA (2024)
Top 8:
- Kaylee McKeown (AUS) -26.10
- Regan Smith (USA) – 26.33
- Ingrid Wilm (CAN) – 26.40
- Peng Xuwei (CHN) – 26.86
- Anastasiya Shkurdai (NIA) – 26.87
- Louise Hansson (SWE) – 26.88
- Hannah Fredericks (AUS) – 26.96
- Wang Xueer (CHN) – 27.09
The first of many races expected to occur between Kaylee McKeown and Regan Smith, went the way of the Australian. Out in 12.65, the double backstroke Olympic gold medalist had enough of a strong start to hold off Smith. Smith, who was 12.99 at the flip, came back faster than McKeown (13.34 vs 13.45) but will need to find a little more tonight to get past her rival.
Ingrid Wilm, who made her first Olympic team this past summer, was just a little slower than the pair, going out in 13.04, but easily puts herself into a possible podium position tonight with her time of 26.40 this morning. After Wilm it’ll be a tight battle as 4th through 6th are separated by just .02 of a second.
MEN’S 200 Back– Prelims
- World Record: 1:45.63 – Mitch Larkin, AUS (2015)
- World Cup Record: 1:46.11 – Arkady Vyachanin, RUS (2009)
- World Junior Record: 1:48.02 – Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS (2017)
Top 8:
- Pieter Coetze (RSA) – 1:51.89
- Enoch Robb (AUS) – 1:52.09
- Noah Milard (AUS) – 1:52.52
- Jack Dahlgren (USA) – 1:53.97
- Kacper Stokowski (POL) – 1:54.72
- Lorenzo Mora (ITA) – 1:55.53
- Khiew Hoe Yean (MAS) – 1:56.89
- Fu Kun-Ming (TPE) – 1:57.43
After breaking the African record in the long course version of this event at the Olympics, South Africa’s Pieter Coetze has put himself in the prime position to make a run at George Du Rand’s 1:47.08 from 2009. Coetze, who swam in the second of three heats, was out the fastest of all competitors, flipping in 54.11. Only three other swimmers were sub 55.5, with the Australian duo of Enoch Robb and Noah Millard splitting 54.16 and 54.59.
The trio will take the center lanes tonight and will look to top the podium, but the USA’s lone entrant Jack Dahlgren, put up a strong performance this morning as well, swimming 1:53.97 and could be in the mix in the final.
MEN’S 100 Fly– Prelims
- World Record: 47.78 – Caeleb Dressel, USA (2020)
- World Cup Record: 48.48 – Evgenii Korotyshkin, RUS (2009)
- World Junior Record: 49.03 – Ilya Kharun, CAN (2022)
Top 8:
WOMEN’S 200 Breast – Prelims
- World Record: 2:14.57 – Rebecca Soni, USA (2009)
- World Cup Record: 2:15.42 – Leisel Jones, AUS (2009)
- World Junior Record: 2:14.70 – Evgeniia Chikunova, RUS (2022)
Top 8:
MEN’S 100 Breast – Prelims
- World Record: 55.28 – Ilya Shymanovich, NIA (2021)
- World Cup Record: 55.61 – Cameron van der Burgh, RSA (2009)
- World Junior Record: 56.66 – Simone Cersuolo, ITA (2021)
Top 8:
WOMEN’S 50 Free – Prelims
- World Record: 22.93 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo, NED (2017)
- World Cup Record: 22.93 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo, NED (2017)
- World Junior Record: 23.69 – Anastasyia Shkurdai, NIA (2020)
Top 8:
MEN’S 50 Free – Prelims
- World Record: 20.16 – Caeleb Dressel, USA (2020)
- World Cup Record: 20.48 – Vladimir Morozov, RUS (2018)
- World Junior Record: 20.98 – Kenzo Simons, NED (2019)
Top 8:
WOMEN’S 100 IM– Prelims
- World Record: 56.51 – Katinka Hosszu, HUN (2017)
- World Cup Record: 56.51 – Katinka Hosszu, HUN (2017)
- World Junior Record: 57.59 – Anastasyia Shkurdai, NIA (2020)
Top 8:
MEN’S 100 IM– Prelims
- World Record: 49.28 – Caeleb Dressel, USA (2020)
- World Cup Record: 50.26 – Vladimir Morozov, RUS (2018)
- World Junior Record: 50.63 – Kliment Kolesnikov, RUS (2018)
Top 8:
